These stats on the record of the Eagles the past three seasons (0.500) are incredibly deceptive. McNabb, Westbrook and Kearse all have had major injuries at various junctures, and the team MUST be viewed in that context. Before anyone gets too in love with our ‘superior’ Giants, you must remember that we SQUEAKED by this team the past few games with MANY EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES. I can hear it already—‘ya call 6 sacks from Osi extenuating?’…. YES I DO! Osi had the joy of going up against rookie Winston Justice and for some BIRD-brained reason they did not give him help. Maybe some of that reason was that the Eagles so injury-riddled that they could not hide anywhere else either. This was the debut of the 4-headed monster rush where Spags started sending Kiwi and Tuck up the middle while Strahan and Osi went on their own missions. But the big picture here is that the Giants had such a huge advantage over this team because of injuries. And then when we played them again later in the season we beat them by a FG and Akers could have sent it to OT if not for a narrow miss when he hit the right upright.

This is a game of inches, and while our memories of this wonderful season will last a LIFETIME, do not forget that we were not exactly dominant over ANYBODY. About the only game that you could have comfortably lit up an Auerbach cigar for was against Atlanta. Even the 49er game was a travesty of missed opptys until Osi broke it open. So the message here is simple- do not underestimate Philadelphia one bit, because if they are healthy they are a bear. I like it a lot because I have always been advocating that a strong NFC East will be good for the Giants… I see a strong NFC this year and that means that someone from our division can go very far because they will be tested and ready.